Sabreliner Corp. hired former airline executive Thomas F. Derieg to manage its troubled SabreTech maintenance subsidiary. Former SabreTech president Steve Townes shed his management duties and now is vice chairman, concentrating on ``identifying and developing strategic marketing opportunities for the company,'' said Sabreliner. In recent months, SabreTech's various locations have been under FAA scrutiny for alleged regulatory violations. Both Florida facilities were closed due to the agency's investigations (B/CA, March, page 40).
While the FAA's 16-g seat rule is fairly specific in how it addresses chairs, side-facing divans continue to exist in a gray area. As one designer pointed out to B/CA, ``The FAA really wishes divans, sofas and side-facing seats would just go away, but there is so much pressure from the industry to have them that the feds are grudgingly trying to find ways to accommodate them.'' Accordingly, the FAA is finally beginning to formulate injury criteria for divans and their side-facing kin.
No type of aircraft, or its occupants, are immune from the itchy fingers of the thief or the meanness of the vandal. To help flight departments safeguard passengers' lives, and to protect costly equipment, FlightSafety International is teaming again this year with Air Security International (ASI) of Houston to offer one-day corporate aviation security training seminars at various FSI Learning Centers.
David Reeve has been named president and chief executive officer of Astral Aviation, the Milwaukee-based subsidiary of Midwest Express that does business as Skyway Airlines. Reeve comes to Astral from DHL Airways of Cincinnati, where he was director of flight operations.
The FAA chose the Raytheon Co., Equipment Division, of Marlborough, Mass., to build a 21st-century-caliber Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) to generate ``better'' predictions of weather hazards in airspace within 60 miles of an airport. Raytheon will develop, test, install and maintain ITWSes at 34 operational sites, covering 45 airports with significant weather hazards. Memphis is slated to get the first production ITWS in November 2001, with the last installation in Dayton, Ohio expected to become operational in February 2003.
As of December 1996, the FAA may certificate pilots with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM). This is a major policy change which took years to achieve, and it is unique to U.S. aviation. This change means that pilots with ITDM now have the opportunity to fly as private pilots. Although it is not anticipated that many people will be able to meet the FAA's medical standards and requirements, those who can will see a dream come true.
AlliedSignal is developing a device that will consolidate the warning features of several different safety systems. The Integrated Hazard Avoidance System (IHAS) would incorporate the alerts now provided by weather radar, wind-shear systems, TCAS and GPWS. Claimed advantages of the IHAS are the prevention of garbled simultaneous warnings, lower costs of acquisition, and reduced system size and weight.
Embraer (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)--Peter Obeysekere joined the company's U.S. subsidiary as vice president of sales in Asia, the Far East and the South Pacific.
Continental Express took delivery of its fifth Embraer EMB-145 50-passenger regional jet in late February. Twenty hard orders remain, plus 175 options over the next 10 years. The carrier began scheduled operations with the aircraft in March from its Cleveland hub.
A stay of rules execution postpones certain FAA restrictions on commercial air-tour operators in the vicinity of Grand Canyon National Park to January 31, 1998. Responding to comments from the industry, the agency is delaying the effective date of the expansion of flight-free zones and minimum altitudes in the area. However, the May 1 deadline for curfews, restrictions on certain aircraft, reporting requirements and other parts of the original proposal remain intact. Because of the delay in full implementation of the final rule, Special FAR Part 50-2 has been reinstated.
The British Minister for Aviation, Lord Goschen, has called for expressions of interest in developing Farnborough further as a business airport after the Ministry of Defense relinquishes control in 2000.
Motorized cabin appointments are on the increase, Dettmers Industries president Andrew Perl told B/CA. Aircraft users who are accustomed to having power-everything in their luxury cars are now demanding the same amenities in their cabins. Motorized is the wave of the future, or so Dettmers believes.
FAA's upgraded safety information Web site now includes data on near mid-airs, airline operations, manufacturers, certificate revocations, enforcement actions, NTSB recommendations and accident reports, and Aviation Safety Reporting System incidents. The FAA's home page is at www.faa.gov.
Bell helicopter operators who qualify for their second year as customers in USAIG's ``preferred policy'' insurance program may get a double bonus. Not only are they eligible for reduced insurance premiums, but under the insurance company's new Safety Bucks plan, they could receive as much as $30,000 to apply toward their annual training costs.
The National Air Transportation Association says the ``majority'' of piston-engine aircraft could be grounded by the proposed Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada.
A hangar with enough room to accommodate up to three large Bombardier aircraft simultaneously is part of the expanded Bombardier Flight Test Center in Wichita that opened on February 22. Aircraft currently using the facility are the Learjet 45, scheduled for certification in June, and the Global Express, set to obtain certification in early 1988.
A forerunner of the NBAA's 50th anniversary celebrations--to start in Dallas at the annual convention from September 23-25--is the 1997 Business Aviation Fact Book, published in March. The NBAA's celebratory activities for its 50th year will run from this year's annual meeting through the 1998 convention, October 19-21 in Las Vegas.
Sabreliner Corp. (St. Louis)--Bob D. Hanks joined the company as president of its new engine division, Premier Turbines, which overhauls, repairs and restores business jet and helicopter engines.
A plan to build a floating, mobile heliport on London's Thames River has been effectively sunk by Britain's Court of Appeal. The proposers of the scheme, Thames Heliport Plc., wanted to establish a heliport on a converted barge that could be positioned at any one of 22 sites. By using GPS to maintain position of the barge rather than having to attach it to the river bed or bank, Thames Heliport hoped to bypass needing permission from a planning commission. But the Court ruled that permission might be needed.
